Justin Bieber and Twitter: America’s New Hot-Button Political Issues

A new strain of timeliness and humor is cropping up in this week’s batch of mid-budget political advertisements: Democrats and Republicans alike are co-opting the popularity of the World Wide Web and its contents for campaign videos. As you might expect, the results—much like the Internet itself—have been quasi-illogical, derivative, and geared toward non-voting tweens. We now present two examples, one from each side of the aisle.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is very interested in broadcasting his familiarity with his own BlackBerry and many of its capabilities. “I heard Chuck Grassley has a Twitter,” one middle-aged lady says to an older lady at the beginning of the senator’s new video spot. “Oh, can it be cured?” the older woman responds. “Oh, not that kind,” Grassley clarifies. [Wait. What is the other kind?—Ed.] Close-up of Grassley’s fingertips deftly maneuvering the crevasses of his mobile device follow. “I’ll tweet, I’ll text, I’ll do whatever it takes,” he says— a promise that’s unlikely to resonate with those viewers who identify with the confused, older character from the first scene.

Campus Progress capitalizes on the popularity of the Internet’s most three-dimensional byproduct, Justin Bieber. The liberal voter-outreach organization has a new commercial that suggest Americans cast their 2010 midterm ballots with Justin Bieber in mind. (Bieber is, as they point out, a Canadian minor.) “Whoever we elect in the 2010 midterm elections will impact his future,” an actress advises. “And ours,” adds another. Clips from Bieber-centric viral videos—classics such as “Bieber Attacked by Fans” and “Bieber Attacked by Fans While on Segway”—are interspersed between earnest/ironic pleas from young Democrats. “Most of his fans are 12 years old—we acknowledge that,” a spokesperson for Campus Progress revealed to Politico.

Note that the older lady from the Grassley ad likely does not know what a “Bieber” is, either.